Creative Approaches to Social Work Practice Learning

Heidi Dix, Aisha Howells

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN: 9781040375907
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Index: Social Sciences

A guide to enable social work practice educators to be more creative in the teaching, supervision and assessment of students.

Practice educators, as social workers, are used to being creative and innovative in their demanding roles in practice. But often they can struggle to find the time to integrate this creativity in the teaching and learning with students. To support a student's ability to develop their critical thinking, practice educators need to possess and demonstrate a range of different skills and knowledge around models and strategies of teaching, supervision, and assessment.

This concise guide enables practice educators to be more creative in the teaching, supervision and assessment of students. Containing stand-alone, but inter-linked chapters that each cover an innovative or creative approach in practice education, this book provides accessible material and practice guidance to enable practice educators to cultivate a creative approach to learning. This includes contemporary and diverse ideas around the teaching, supervision and assessment of social work students who are undertaking their practice learning placements.

Each chapter is written by a qualified practice educator enabling them to draw upon their experiences of effectively supporting the development of students and the building of a learning relationship. The book bridges theory and practice, providing a straightforward and useful resource for practice educators to draw upon, thus supporting their research-mindedness to inform their practice and contribute to their knowledge-base. Both of which are indicative skills within their expert specialist roles.

In short, the book provides a range of creative approaches, demonstrates their application in practice and helps to build a "creative toolbox" to use within practice.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Meet the editors
• Meet the contributors
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 Let’s start at the beginning
• Poem: I am string
• Chapter 2 Practice educating in a digital world
• Chapter 3 Anti-racist social work practice education
• Poem: Can you see me?
• Chapter 4 The creative use of timelines: A trauma-sensitive approach for developing students’ critical analysis and reflexivity
• Poem: Swimming
• Chapter 5 Purpose, position, power and rights
• Poem: Brush on that daily smile
• Chapter 6 The Musician, ‘The Stripper’ and The Boxing Day Flood: The use of stories in social work
• Chapter 7 Exploring professional curiosity and social work practice education
• Poem: It’s not my fault
• Chapter 8 Getting creative with endings
• Poem: Since you left
• Summary
• Appendices
• Index